Pages

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

An Invitation. Because I Love You.

I've been wanting to say something for a while, but I didn't know where or how. A quick facebook status update? Send out a tweet? They didn't seem like enough. But do I really have an entire post worth of things to say on the matter?

Let's find out.

This crazy, wonderful, stressful, beautiful life is a fantastic one, there is no doubt. My children are an incredible blessing, potty accidents, ridiculous tantrums and all. My marriage, with its ups and downs (oh yes, there have been many of both) a true testament for me of Christ's sacrificial love for us.
And here- this place, this house, these friends, those animals, this life, none of this would have, or even could have happened without an invitation. An invitation that my dear husband, before he was my husband, extended to me.

"Come, meet Jesus" he said. "Come, know the Truth." "Just as I know I love you, I know this is Right and Good," he insisted. And I, the kind of person no one else would think to invite, accepted his invitation. With trepidation, with fear, clinging to my self-loathing like an addict clings to the very thing that will someday kill him, I went.

And the Lord changed my life.

Made my life. Saved my life.

If you have ever heard even the tiniest whisper in the back of your mind, in the bottom of your heart, come. Ask. Find out more. Call your local Catholic church and ask about their RCIA program. If that feels like too much, ask someone at work. If that feels like too much, ask someone here in the combox. If that feels like too much, send me an email. There are no obligations, no mysterious rituals, nothing you need to know before you can start to know. And nothing to lose except that terrible feeling that Life is missing from your life.

You know when you eat something fantastic or see something wonderful, you can't wait to tell everyone about it? You feel sad that anyone is going through life without having eaten that fantastic food or seeing that wonderful thing? And you want to say "I know you've been eating margarine and margarine is fine, but trust me. Butter is the thing. You've GOT to try butter. Once you try butter you'll never, ever, ever go back to margarine. Trust me!". That's how I feel about the Church. The Church is my butter. Delicious, glorious, life-changing butter.

I want you to know the peace and love and joy that I feel. I want you to have it. It's like the best, happiest, never-ending party and I want you to be there. Yes YOU. Every one of you. So come. Eat the real butter. Know true joy.

Love the analogy and the invitation to a deliciously wonderful life. "Butter makes it better."That was our fam. motto growing up, because my daddy works for Land O' Lakes. (In the butter world it's pretty much the Catholic Church.)

Good for you Dwija! My sister-in-law just converted at Easter, and when I asked her what made her start the process, she said "Monsignor asked me if I was interested". That's all it took, someone to invite her. All of these years we have been praying and hoping she would convert and yet never asked her. Duh.

My husband led me to Christ and while I am not Catholic, Jesus changed my life. My husband did the most romantic thing in the world for me...he didn't just want to spend our time here on earth together but he wanted to spend eternity with me, as well! That beats flowers and chocolate anyday!

That's so sweet! I'm not a Catholic, Dwija, but I will say, Jesus is my butter any day of the week! I used to tell my husband (before he was my husband) that becoming a Christian was like walking around wearing sunglasses. You could still absolutely function, and see stuff, and everything - but then you become a Christian and you take off the sunglasses and the entire world looks different. It's like, you can see the details, you can see the point. It's the same stuff you looked at every day, but suddenly, you aren't wearing those sunglasses anymore. Good stuff.

Although I never left the Church, I have come to embrace it more in the past few years and the love I feel has been such a source of joy. I still don't fit the mold: I don't wear skirts, don't go to adoration, use artificial birth control, yell at my husband, and gossip about people. I'm working on some of those things. But I will tell you this: loving God and being open to his Grace makes me try every day to be a kinder and more loving person. I fail often, but I never stop trying.

Dweej is right- if you have ever felt even the smallest glimmer or the smallest whisper of a call, please come. God loves us unfailingly not in spite of all our badness, but with all of our badness.

And now I need to go email this to two friends of mine who have left the Church.